Another court opinion scaring folks about the status of pets as property

Judges’ comments meant to explain why the state of Oregon is hard on animal abusers, not change longheld precedent.

My last blog analyzed a Georgia Supreme Court opinion about damages for the loss of a pet. Animal health publications and blogs were wringing their hands about the implications of this decision for the longstanding rule of no recovery of non-economic (emotional) damages for the negligent injury or death of a pet.

I spend part of every week defending the veterinary industry from legislative mischief, so I closely read the case to see if it portended the harm that I’d been warned about by colleagues. Fortunately, the Georgia Supreme Court did no such thing and the law against non-economic damages is alive and well in the Peach State.

This week the culprit is the Oregon Supreme Court in State of Oregon vs. Amanda Newcomb.